Major expense reserves in my net worth

As my financial situation incrementally improves, I am tweaking my calculation of my net worth. My latest change is to keep a separate spreadsheet of all of the major expenses I expect to make over the next six months and to subtract these "reserves" from my calculated networth.

The only major expenses I anticipate for the rest of the year are for travel, the biggest being a trip back to Washington, D.C. sometime in the fall. I'm also hoping to hop down to San Francisco for a long weekend at some point. And, I'm expecting that I will take one "holiday" trip near the end of the year.

Buying a new computer is too far down the road to show up in my major expense budget yet, although I do have a tenative list for next year.

I'm still planning to hit breakeven by the end of the year, where my liquid assets will finally balance my debt (back taxes, outstanding credit card balance, and major expense reserves). Presently, by liquid asset to debt ratio (with reserves taken out) is at 59%, a little better than halfway to breakeven.

I'm still debating with myself when to pay off my New York State back income taxes, but I think I want to get my cash reserves a little bit higher. Maybe next month, and maybe when I have a better handle on my likely travel expenses in the Fall. Maybe the end of October is a better goal to shoot for. Or, maybe I'll just time it to correspond with hitting breakeven.

For now, I am still counting pennies and keeping my expenses under very tight control. I finally got a haircut last weekend, two months later than usual. I eat out at restaurants only twice a week and get some takeout from Whole Foods or wherever the other nights.

I think I decided to let my subscription to Forbes magazine lapse. I occasional get a little value (emphasis on little) out of reading that magazine, but not enough to make it worth spending my time on. This means I have no magazine subscriptions. Like I said, I'm saving pennies.

-- Jack Krupansky